The Brief

In an elementary school library in Bell one recent morning, about a dozen parents and a few children clustered around long tables as a financial instructor flipped through PowerPoint charts, talking about budgeting.

“Here’s how to build your ideal budget …” began the instructor, Everardo Velasquez, in Spanish. “An ideal budget means that our dwelling cost will not be more than 35% of our income … transportation and car payments, not more than 20% … food, 20% …”

It was a financial literacy class put on for parents whose children attend the Magnolia Science Academy, one of a group of public charter schools located around Southern California, many located in largely Latino communities.

Staff here and on other Magnolia campuses brought in the workshops earlier this year, after noticing that as school and life returned to semi-normalcy following the worst of the pandemic, parents and students were mentioning money problems more than usual.

As he spoke in Bell recently, Velasquez, with the SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, would get the occasional comment from a parent. At one point, a woman in the back raised her hand. She said her family was struggling “just to eat, let alone pay rent.”

As Velasquez sympathized, the woman went on: “Each day, it’s more difficult.”

After the class ended, a few of the moms stayed behind to chat. Teresa Mendoza, whose husband works as a gardener, talked about how as he lost work during the shutdown, the family began cutting corners.

“In place of meat, we bought seeds — rice, beans, lentils,” Mendoza said. “We ate more naturally.”

With their forced vegetarian diet, Mendoza joked, “We came out of the pandemic healthier!”

But not financially, she said. Her husband let customers who couldn’t afford his services slide on payments; she said people still owe him. And though he’s working full-time again, now they have inflation to contend with.

Left to right: Teresa Mendoza, Yuriana Santana, Santana's son Tristan Lopez, Gloria Rosales, and Imelda Lopez.

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Courtesy of Evelyn Aleman

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“For his work (truck), it used to cost him about $50 to fill his tank,” Mendoza said. “Now, it is costing double. So this is affecting us more than the epidemic — that is the truth.”

Another mom, Imelda Lopez, chimed in.

“This,” Lopez said wryly, ”is the epidemic, really.”

Feeling the post-pandemic pinch

The pinch of the current inflation crisis is universal, as food and gas prices grow prohibitive and rents soar. But it’s being felt deeply in Latino communities that were hit hard by the pandemic.

Latinos in California suffered not only the highest rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths, but a big financial hit as well.

According to the state Legislative Analyst’s Office, Latinos in California endured a disproportionate share of job losses during the pandemic: In 2020, Latino workers made up 38% of people employed in the state, but accounted for 50% of jobs lost. Service-related industries, in which Latino workers are heavily represented, especially struggled during the shutdown.

As life has returned to semi-normal in the post-pandemic economy, there’s been a ripple effect for these workers and their families, say experts who study California Latinos’ financial well-being.

“As we've come out of the pandemic, one marker that's always clear is that it's going to be more difficult for Latinos to bounce back,” said USC sociologist Mindy Romero.

In 2019, Romero reported on how in spite of a declining poverty rate and a growing Latino middle class in California, there remained challenges to upward mobility: uneven access to banking and credit, a persistent education gap, and a lack of generational wealth. Opportunities were especially limited for people lacking legal status.

Romero says all of these factors left Latinos in California especially vulnerable to a challenging economy — like the one consumers are experiencing now, as inflation soars.

‘Pushed back gains’

Complicating the financial hit of the pandemic for Latinos were the costs faced by those left healthy and working who had to help less-fortunate family members.

“People who were working all of a sudden were trying to provide for more than just who they might have been before the pandemic,” said Bill Maurer, director of UC Irvine’s Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion.

He said this caused even some not directly affected by illness or job loss to get behind financially. Maurer and other UCI researchers have been looking into the financial status of Latinos post-pandemic as part of a forthcoming study. Getting “back to normal” has proven elusive for people they’ve surveyed, he said.

“Getting back to work, the ‘getting back to normal,’ plus inflation … hit some of these families harder than others, because inflation was highest around things like food and gas, transportation, housing — and gobbling up much more of their wages than it had before,” Maurer said. “So it just compounded everything, and we've seen that kind of pattern continue.”

UCI has partnered in its research with Abrazar, a Westminster-based nonprofit that among other things provides culturally relevant financial education for Latinos in Orange County through a United Way program called SparkPoint OC. Abrazar CEO Mario Ortega said in the past, they’d focus more on short-term and long-term financial goals with people they served. He said he’s noticed a shift toward simple survival since the pandemic.

“It just really pushed back any gains that the community had made,” Ortega said. “It's so difficult for a family to try to focus on financial goals, short term or long term, when they're just trying to not get evicted, or trying to feed their family, or trying to be able to access health services.

“So the progress that we've made of trying to be able to move the family to look at short-term and long-term financial goals in a new way, it's become a lot harder when they're just trying to survive,” Ortega said.

Budget, budget, budget

Once behind, it is difficult to catch up, said USC’s Romero.

“When you get behind and you're already on the edge, it's really hard,” she said. “It almost feels like you have to win the lottery to catch up. And that's our economic system … the safety nets are incredibly minimal.”

Romero, Maurer and others believe broader financial reform is necessary to address wealth inequities for communities of color.

But there are at least small steps families can take to address debt, said Everardo Velasquez, the financial instructor with SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union.

“I know that we sort of have, in our mind, an idea of, how much money we're bringing in as a family and what expenses we have,” Valesquez told LAist afterward. “But when we want to start taking control of our finances to reach our financial goals, to pay down our debt, we want to have a better picture of what our cash flow looks like from month to month.”

Taking detailed stock of income, debt and expenses, and making a budget in writing, is a good start, Velasquez said. So is talking expenses through with family members in the household.

“Maybe conversations around money can be seen as a little taboo or, you know, we don't talk about it so much,” Velasquez said. “So kind of normalizing that, right?... It’s OK to talk about it. Let's get on the same page. Let's create a budget together.”

This should include examining bills together to distinguish wants from needs, he said, and lowering costs as needed to prioritize debts.

'How do I belt-tighten this?'

All that said, it’s hard to lower even necessary costs right now, said Bell mother Imelda Lopez.

“Sure, we can try to cut, we can eat something different,” Lopez said, “but transportation to work, rent — these are costs that you can’t let go of.”

Which prompts a frustrating question, she said: “How do I belt-tighten this?”

Magnolia school administrators obtained grant funding to help with a few related services for school families, including mental health and financial workshops.

Marlene Castañeda teaches Spanish at the Magnolia Science Academy in Bell.

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Courtesy of Evelyn Aleman

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Bell campus Spanish teacher Marlene Castañeda said the need for the financial classes became obvious as she and other teachers heard stories like these:

“Families that lost a grandparent, that they were counting on that Social Security check and now it's gone,” she said. “People that became very ill and now they cannot work and they're on disability. That is if they are legally documented, because if they are not, they are really on zero.”

As the school reached out, including with home visits, staffers learned of more families doubling up in a home or apartment to save money, she said, kids whose parents could not afford school supplies, and parents talking about limiting their grocery shopping.

“I don't remember seeing this before, before the pandemic,” Castañeda said. “Not to this extreme. So families are definitely struggling.”

Magnolia administrators say they plan to bring the financial literacy workshops back to Bell and other campuses next semester.

Casa Leo is a small Spanish restaurant located in Los Feliz near Griffith Park, where Chef Joshua Whigham is quietly bringing his own fresh approach to Spanish cooking — one that's specific and ingredient-driven in a way you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the city.

Whigham spent 15 years working under José Andrés — the Michelin-starred, James Beard Award-winning Spanish chef — before striking out on his own a little over a year ago with Casa Leo. The restaurant has already been added to the Michelin Guide California and has built a reputation for a seasonal, genuine, personal approach. That shows up across the menu, from cocas (Iberian flatbreads) to a trout en escabeche dish inspired by Martín Berasategui, the Basque chef often credited as a pioneer of modern Spanish cuisine.

Paella drop

One Sunday each month, Whigham hosts a "paella drop," cooking the paella outside the restaurant on a propane rig built to fit the giant pan he uses. Originally open to just 20 guests, the pop-up has grown in popularity as word has spread — Whigham has incrementally raised the cap over time, and now cooks with an even larger pan that can accommodate up to 70 guests.

It’s a setup that gets a lot of attention. He recalls a group of cyclists zipping by one day, with one of them yelling, "Holy shit, that smells good."

Chef Joshua Whigham stands beside the finished paella, cooked on a custom propane rig large enough to hold his oversized pan.

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Courtesy CASA LEO

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"Paella is Spain's national dish," Whigham says — and for many Americans, it's the only regional dish they know by name. Most Americans picture one version of paella — chicken, shrimp, saffron-yellow rice — but the dish looks different depending on where in Spain you are. While the dish has roots in the southeastern region of Valencia, its ingredients and preparation vary widely throughout the country.

Showcasing that variety is one of Whigham’s aims. And he does it with strict adherence to tradition — he'll never include chorizo, since its heavy smoke and paprika flavors, he says, completely overpower the subtle, delicate taste of the saffron, broth and rice.

In August, the paella included market mushrooms, summer truffle, chicken and langoustine.

The next drop, on Sept. 20 (which just so happens to be World Paella Day), is a cuttlefish (sepia) paella.

Whigham wanted the drops to serve as an opportunity to activate the space in ways beyond regular brunch and dinner service.

Not a tourist menu

Whigham says people's exposure to Spanish cuisine often stops at gazpacho, jamón, and that one paella experience they had while studying abroad in college.

His approach, honed over almost two decades of cooking Spanish food, involves first surveying a dish's regional origins and then adapting it using Southern California ingredients, in a process Whigham calls "giving a traditional dish a sense of place."

"That's the path I'm on — taking traditional dishes and making them ours,” he adds.

A plated portion of Casa Leo's paella, served with a side of aioli and topped with edible flowers and microgreens.

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Casa Leo

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For example: marmitako, a humble Basque fisherman's dish traditionally made with tuna and potato, with a base consisting of tomato, bell pepper, red onion and fish stock. Whigham noticed poblano peppers were "exploding at the market" and swapped them in for the green bell peppers, using the same process and proportions — resulting in a richer tone, more of a capsicum flavor and a "nice low-key heat." Paired with the chili de árbol spice, it made the dish "warmer and richer and a little deeper in flavor."

Less than two years in, Whigham says the Michelin recognition was a lovely surprise. "We weren't looking for it," he says. "This is what I do. I don't know how to do anything else but this."

Still, he feels the weight of its importance: "A good restaurant, you feel it — the pulse of it, the heartbeat. That's what I want for people."

Voters in November will decide whether to make a sales tax increase, geared toward funding public safety, maintenance and youth programs, permanent.

In 2018, voters approved a 1.5% sales tax increase — dubbed Measure X. That rate was designed to decrease to 1% in 2029 before being eliminated in 2039. The tax provides more than $80 million in annual revenue. City officials said the tax dollars account for about 20% of the general fund.

LAist breaks down where those dollars have gone so far.

How much money has come in through the tax? 

The city has received nearly $500 million from the sales tax so far.

A large portion of the Measure X money — $166 million — went to “unrestricted” general revenue purposes. This is anything from building repairs and city events to arts programs and City Council aides.

The second-highest expense — sitting at nearly $123 million — went to public safety, which includes retaining firefighters and police officers.

Nearly $69 million falls under the third category called “Maintain Effective 9-1-1 Response,” and most of those dollars went to the Santa Ana Police Department.

About $57 million went toward addressing homelessness since 2019. Records show a large share of that money went to police response — about $48 million.

In the other categories, $14 million went to fix streets, $39 million to park maintenance and $12 million went to youth services.

You can find the full breakdown of Measure X dollars here.

General spending is the largest pot of money

Tim Johnson, chair of the Measure X Citizen Oversight Committee, said the tricky part of the sales tax is that it is general-purpose, unrestricted revenue, meaning the city can spend it however it sees best for residents.

“I don't know that all the voters understood that this truly is unrestricted revenue that's coming in though, and that's kind of probably the biggest issue,” Johnson told LAist. “The city, I think, is trying to do our best to let our residents know where the dollars are being spent. But it's a virtually impossible task to be able to track every single dollar that comes in and where it exactly is going because of this unrestricted general revenue.”

It’s especially an issue considering the ballot language led with firefighters, police, homelessness and youth — all categories that mean a lot to Santa Ana residents, Johnson added.

“That is the category that gets the bulk of this funding, and yet it was at probably the back end of most of our voters' [minds] when they were casting their ballot,” Johnson said. “And probably the same thing with the upcoming election. It's important to understand that this truly is unrestricted revenue.”

With this tax, he said, residents are putting a lot of trust in the City Council, city manager and finance department to be good fiduciaries of these funds.

“We're not only voting for the additional tax on ourselves, but we're voting to put our trust in the City Council that they're going to spend it wisely,” Johnson added.

Why it matters

Before the sales tax was approved in 2018, the city adopted a budget that required a $10 million dip in its reserves to maintain city services. At the time, the city was facing a growing structural deficit that, if ignored, could have ballooned to more than $30 million by 2020, according to city records.

Despite revenue generated from Measure X, the city has faced multimillion-dollar budget deficits in recent years.

This year, the city managed to close a $13 million deficit by making cuts across several departments, including police, public works, and parks and recreation.

Without the sales tax dollars, officials have warned that the city will have deeper cuts to make.

“The residents of Santa Ana have come to expect a certain level of service from the city that is largely dependent on Measure X dollars,” Mai Do, a Santa Ana resident and member of the Measure X Citizen Oversight Committee, told LAist. “So many of the services that we depend on and enjoy, including community improvements to parks and also library personnel, are funded through Measure X.”

Other cities, including Orange and San Clemente, are looking to voters for approval of their own sales tax measures to help bolster city coffers. Do said Santa Ana luckily is not panicking as much as other cities.

“Folks are expecting more from their local governments … in terms of providing services to everyone,” Do said. “When there's an expectation of having these services, cities need to be able to figure out how to actually meet that demand.”

What’s next? 

Santa Ana voters will be asked in November to make the sales tax permanent. If the measure fails, the tax rate will drop to 1% in 2029 as originally planned, meaning the city could miss out on about $30 million in revenue.

An astronaut who made news piloting a NASA spacecraft around the moon earlier this year is now planting his feet on the ground on the Central Coast.

Victor Glover is joining the executive staff at his alma mater, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He’ll serve as an advisor to the university’s president and help shape research programs.

Glover graduated from Cal Poly in 1999 with an engineering degree. He was also on the football and wrestling teams.

Glover also met his wife, Dionna, while attending the school. All four of their daughters graduated from, or are currently attending, Cal Poly.

Glover was a Navy fighter pilot who became an important part of America’s modern-day space program. He lived on the International Space Station for 168 days, flew the SpaceX Crew Dragon, and piloted NASA’s Artemis II lunar orbit mission earlier this year.

Glover recently retired from the Navy and NASA.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

California regulators ordered Health Net to fix how it’s handling the termination of assisted living services for low-income residents after the insurer’s abrupt decision left patients and providers scrambling. The state’s corrective action plan requires Health Net to extend services for all members until the end of the year, rather than stopping some as soon as October.

Health Net, one of the largest Medicaid insurers in the country, notified providers several months ago that it was ending its assisted living and home care services contracts. The services are optional under Medi-Cal — California’s version of Medicaid — meaning an insurer can decide annually whether it will continue coverage. Providers and family members said they got little or no warning, leaving them confused and panicked about finding other arrangements.

In an August letter to Health Net, the Department of Health Care Services cited eight deficiencies in the insurer’s handling of the change, including failure to submit transition plans for members, failure to move members to other medically appropriate care, and denying services to members. Regulators wrote that violations “jeopardize member safety, disrupt continuity of care, and endanger medically vulnerable members.”

If Health Net does not extend benefits and create individualized transition plans for each affected member, the state may fine them $25,000 per member per day of violation, the letter states.

Advocates and providers estimate about 3,500 Medi-Cal patients rely on Health Net to pay for assisted living costs. Most are elderly, and many have cognitive issues like dementia. Health Net operates Medi-Cal plans in 10 counties: Amador, Calaveras, Fresno, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare.

In a statement to CalMatters, Health Net spokesperson Beatriz Lopez said the company still plans to end the services next year, but will now cover all members through the end of the year.

“Health Net and DHCS share a commitment to advancing the health and well-being of Medi-Cal members,” Lopez said.

Health Net has previously told CalMatters the assisted living benefit “has not led to better care” in terms of fewer emergency room visits or days hospitalized. The benefit is part of CalAIM, a broad state initiative to improve Medi-Cal services and save money by stabilizing high-cost users who frequently end up in emergency rooms. Lopez said Health Net would continue analyzing data and supporting services that result in better health outcomes.

Providers confirmed to CalMatters that their contracts would run through the end of the year.

Thousands still face January deadline

Hagar Dickman, director of long-term services and supports at Justice In Aging, said the state’s corrective action plan resolves the immediate crisis but fails to address the long-term problem: “Thousands of older Californians are still set to lose their housing on January 1st.”

Allowing health insurers to cancel housing-related benefits creates problems, Dickman said, because most assisted living residents have no other home to return to. Additionally, the Department of Health Care Services has stated that if a member moves to another insurer that still covers assisted living, continuity of care protections would no longer apply, meaning the new insurer might not approve the member's assisted living costs.

"It’s disingenuous to say there are protections and then say the protections don’t apply,” Dickman said. "So the option is skilled nursing or homelessness.”

Pauline Shatara, deputy director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, agreed that state protections are inadequate.

“It doesn’t sound like we found a solution to help pay for these people to remain where they are,” Shatara said.

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.